Jan, Count Žižka

Jan, Count Žižka, (born c. 1376—died Oct. 11, 1424, Přibyslav, Bohemia [now in Czech Republic]), military commander and national hero of Bohemia who led the victorious Hussite armies against the German king Sigismund, foreshadowing the revolution of military tactics two centuries later in his introduction of mobile artillery.

Žižka grew up at the court of the German king Wenceslas (King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia). He early lost an eye. After spending most of his life as a mercenary for the Poles and fighting with them at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg; 1410), he returned to Bohemia and became a follower of the religious reformer Jan Hus. When Wenceslas died in 1419, his half-brother Sigismund attempted to ascend the Bohemian throne, but the Bohemians, aware that Sigismund would try to suppress Hussitism, organized a resistance. Žižka became a leader of the Taborites, one of the newly formed peasant military communities that, with their tight discipline and religious and nationalist zeal, were vastly superior to the undisciplined feudal levies that they opposed.

Žižka revolutionized warfare through the introduction of cannon mounted on mobile, armoured farm wagons. He was one of the first commanders to handle infantry, cavalry, and artillery as one tactical body. Reduced to the tactical defensive by his cumbersome wagons, he became a master at forcing his enemies to attack at a disadvantage. Žižka’s system proved practically unbeatable. He crushed Sigismund near Prague in 1420. Losing the sight of his remaining eye shortly thereafter, he continued to lead his forces to victory against both Roman Catholics and rival Hussite elements, finally dying of plague in 1424. Hussite armies continued to defeat foreign invaders, finally succumbing after a decade and a half as a result of internal rivalries.

Despite his obvious success, Europe failed to heed Žižka’s military system for 200 years. Only with the advent of the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf and his reintroduction of mobile artillery in the 17th century did Žižka’s system become incorporated into European tactics.